A Bad Days Fishing is worse than a Good Day in the office

They say a bad day's fishing beats a good day at the office every time.

They're right, but in Queensland, there's no such thing as a bad day's fishing.

The Fisherpeople

Our hopes are the baited hook

That we cast into the sea

The fish are our dreams

Which we bring to shore to eat

Our desire is to throw the line

The furthest that we can

While our lives are the sun that sets

Upon our home this land

For we are the people

Like the thunder is of the clouds

Our love is the lightning flash

That can be seen for miles around

And the moon that rises to its peak

Is our heart that keeps a steady beat

For the people who are natures gift

Like the stars that shine with peace

Noodle String

2004

Just on thirty years ago I had to go to Gladstone in Queensland to see one of my larger clients. This entailed three different aerplane flights and a two hour drive by car. Almost 12 hours of movement or sitting around airports. Finally arrived and within three hours I had completed every thing and all papers had been signed. No plane for 16 hours. My client said we were going Barramundi fishing. My mind was bewildered. I had been fishing twice in my life. Not impressed

My father took me fishing once; he had heard that if he taught me to fish, I could keep the family fed all the time, meaning he would not have to give me money to feed my family... In theory that was correct, after 7 hours sitting in a small metal rowing boat for the fish to be caught. Nothing happened at all No fish. Still I was badly sun burnt with a very sore back. The next time was ten years latter than the trip with my father. Val and I were invited out in a cruiser boat, with our five children, way up North in the North Island New Zealand. We had a fantastic time for three hours sightseeing. We Anchored and commenced fishing. The two brothers, whose boat we were in, came out fishing at least twice a week whilst they were in The Bay of Islands. They said they had never missed a bag of fish. This time we caught an eel, which look like a large snake. That was the end of my life as a fisherman. Not impressed.

Back to Gladstone, I explained to James and Bill, I was not happy, but they jollied me along. They were exceptionally good clients, so I assume the happy face and got dressed in some jeans. Off we went to the river down the road. They showed me the extent of their fishing journey, some five miles of river. It was very dark and apparently we had to go and get the bait. I am a total stranger to this fishing habit. We boarded the craft, not quite up to the standard of our friends in New Zealand. It was a big dinghy with an out board motor, which made lots of noise. We were going to some form of mud bank. On arriving, they jumped into the water and urged me to follow, not wishing to show my concern, I followed them.

Now the fun started, we had to bend over and claw the bait off the floor of the river. This pleasant bending and scratching, what felt like mud and slime off bottom of the river was not enjoyable. It went on for 90 minutes and by then the tide had turned and the river water was over our heads. The two guys seem to get into the boat without any difficulty, but not me. Suddenly some thing huge went between my legs and without further ado I was back inside the boat. Jim and Bill thought that it was funny. Not impressed. It is now pitch black and we trolled up the river dropping our bait about every five feet. Then we sat and waited for the tide to turn. We then drifted down to the sea mouth. Fortune had completely changed we had eight Barramundi on board; the largest was just under 6 feet long or tall.

Back to Jim’s house where I was staying that night, a hot shower and off to bed. After Jim had put the Barramundi into the deep freeze. The next day for lunch Alison had made us all Barramundi Chambord. You really have not eaten fish until you have tasted Barramundi Chambord: -

INGREDIENTS: -

750 grams Barramundi cutlets

½ cup of Tarrgon wine vinegar

½ cup of White wine

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

¾ cup Tomatoes puree

Grated Parmesan Cheese

METHOD: -

Wipe over the Barramundi cutlets with damp

Kitchen paper. Combine the vinegar, wine,

Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper.

Marinate the fish in this mixture for

One hour, turning occasionally. Drain fish and

Place on greased grill tray. Spread with half

The tomato puree and sprinkle with the

Parmesan cheese. Grill lightly for 2 to 3 minutes.

Turn over and spread the other side with

The tomato puree and cheese. Grill for 2/3 mins.

Serve Immediately.

Serves six.

Fortunately Alison had made double the mixture. It was the perfect meal.

As I was leaving to be taken to the Airport, Jim Gave me the largest Barramundi, litteraly frozen solid. All wrapped up in silver foil, weighing a ton. This fish was almost as tall as me. When I arrived to catch the plane they charge me a full fare to bring it back to Sydney. They told me, to place Barra on the seat next to me, and then they brought the passengers through to look at it.

As much as we loved the great fish, I made a resolution, never to go fishing again.

Most of the time I was SCARED STIFF.

Some facts on Barramundi

Habitat

Barramundi inhabits a wide variety of habitats in rivers creeks and mangrove estuaries in clear to turbid water. They are most common in rivers and creeks with large catchments with a slow continuous flow and water temperatures above 20°C. Barramundi shows a distinct preference for submerged logs, rock ledges and other structure in the water. There is a photo where the like to lurk

Barramundi are a catadromous species, that is it grows to maturity in the upper reaches of freshwater rivers and streams and adults move downstream, especially during flooding, to estuaries and coastal waters for spawning.

Distribution

L.calcarifer has a very extensive range in tropical and semi-tropical areas of the Indo-Pacific. Its distribution extends from the Persian Gulf to southern China and southwards to the northern Australia. Within Australia its range extends from the Mary and Maroochy River systems in south-east Queensland northwards around the entire northern coast to Shark Bay in Western Australia.

Reproduction

Barramundi are protoandrous hermaphrodites: they start life as males, reaching maturity at around 3 to 4 years of age and later change gender and become females, usually at around age 5. Small fish are almost exclusively male with the percentage of females increasing with overall length.

The female produce large numbers of small, non-adhesive, pelagic eggs between 0.6 mm and 0.9 mm in diameter (one 22 Kg female was recorded as having 17 million eggs). The eggs appear pinkish when water hardened. The eggs hatch within 15-20 hours at which time the larvae are around 1.5 mm in length and the mouth and eyes are well developed, although the yolk sac is large. At 2.5 mm the mouth is large and open, the yolk sac is greatly reduced and the pectoral fins are beginning to develop. Above this size the larvae begin to exhibit the characteristic colouration of juveniles of this species - overall brown mottled markings with a white stripes running lengthwise along the head. At 3.5 mm the yolk sac is all but gone, fin rays are beginning to appear and the teeth are well developed. By the fifth day the yolk sac has been completely absorbed and by 8.5 mm the fins are fully developed.

Growth rate is variable, but generally rapid. Typical overall lengths at the end of each year are as follows:

Year

Length range (mm)

1: - 10-330

2: - 430-500

3: - 529-610

4: - 610-690

5: - 730-770

6: - 810

Diet

The Barramundi is a carnivore, feeding mainly on smaller fish as well as crustaceans. Juveniles take smaller fish fry, smaller crustaceans and aquatic insects.

Angling

An exciting and popular target for anglers in northern Australia, Barramundi responds well to lures either cast or trolled. Large minnow pattern lures are popular and productive when fished around snags; mangrove roots rocky outcrops, submerged timber and other heavy cover. Bright metallic gold or bronze a particularly popular lure colours for these feisty fellows. Often known for its spectacular leaps from the water during the fight, the Barramundi justifiably commands respect from those who seek it out.

Barramundi are also popular on heavier weight fly gear, and they will take live bait, especially mullet, prawns and macro brachium (a giant freshwater shrimp). Whilst some excellent specimens have been taken on dead baits, it is not generally a recommended option.

These days many Barramundi sports fishermen practice catch and release. This practice is encouraged by NFA, although there is no reason not to take the occasional fish for the table.

On the table

Barramundi has gained a reputation as one of Australia's finest eating fish, usually with a price to match! In fact such is the reputation that there has been the occasional scandal due to substitution of other, cheaper, fish in the restaurant trade. Objectively it is probably true that the reputation exceeds the reality, but there is no denying that Barramundi are excellent table fish and specimens captured from estuarine waters are delicious, with firm, white, fine-grained meat.

Dawn and dusk is the preferred time and the summer months (November to March) during calm humid conditions the best. Deep diving lures cast around structure, weed beds, drowned timber etc. is the way, although trolling can also produce the goods.

A little dinky rod and reel is not the go here, these horses can destroy inferior tackle and quality rod/reels loaded with at least 20lb line and even heavier mono leader to 50 lb required to extract these fish. Don't let anyone tell you that impoundment fish are lazy! These fish are not lazy, in fact very energetic.

Summer time is also the rainy season here in the Tropics. This annual deluge can see a meter of rainfall in only a few weeks flood our local rivers and push the bait, prawns, sardines etc. out to sea, forcing the barramundi to congregate around any rocky foreshore or headland.

Where the bait goes, the predators follow and it is here after heavy persistent rain that you will consistently find the largest barramundi.

Anchor upstream of the structure and drift the bait to the snag with as little lead as possible. HANG ON and these fish will hit hard and many fish are lost at the initial hook up stage. Obviously this style of fishing is not for the faint hearted and quality gear or heavy hand lines essential.

Barramundi are great to catch; their leaping fight is exhilarating and their strength renowned. Their numbers, although secure are not expanding greatly due to the commercial fishing pressure on this prized table fish. Bag and size limits do apply and there are heavy fines for offenders.

There is also a closed season for the taking of barras by any means during their breeding cycle. Any barramundi accidentally caught during this period must be returned unharmed to the water. For the East Coast fishery, this period is 1st November to 1st February each year, while the Gulf Fishery (Gulf of Carpentaria and the west coast of Cape York) is variable from year to year, depending upon the spawning season, and may start as early as early October.

Only take what you need and handle every caught fish thoughtfully. Scientific research has shown that fish are susceptible to being "stretched" when held up by the mouth or gill for taking photographs etc. and most barras will not survive this common practice.

Small fish should be cradled by the head and body while larger specimens should be lifted in the landing net or best still, photographed in the water.

It's a great thrill to see a magnificent specimen, having given you the thrill of the strike that leaping fight and finally the photo and memories, flick its tail in defiance and swim away. Try it, you just might be enlightened.